Listing fewer skills in your resume can give you a competitive advantage for a job. On the flip side, including too many skills can bump you right out of contention. Let's take a closer look at why that is, the kinds of abilities you shouldn't mention in your job applications moving forward, and what you should focus on instead.
Customize your skills for the needs of the employer
When you apply for a job, you want to convince the employer that you can be an exceptionally strong performer in that role. This means that you not only have the skills and experience to do the job well, but you also have the interest and ambition in pursuing that line of work. That way, you will be motivated to work hard, solve problems, and deliver results.
That is why trying to get hired with a one-size-fits-all generic resume that you use for every job you apply for rarely works. That is one of the most common resume mistakes that job seekers make.
You need to customize your resume for the role that you want. Employers quickly scan resumes in their initial read to determine which ones to shortlist for further consideration and which to eliminate. This is why it is so important that everything they see in that quick review showcases your relevance and competency for the job at hand. Irrelevant job experience and excessive text water down your actual selling points, making them harder to find.
Think of your resume as a marketing document to sell your candidacy for a specific position. The employer is the audience for that document, and their time and attention spans are limited. Take this opportunity to write the piece that makes the best pitch for your ability to fill the role as concisely as possible.
The types of skills to omit
In order to be succinct, you have to make conscious choices. This means selecting what not to put on a resume as well as what to include. Well, here are three categories of skills that you probably have but that you should not list in your resume:
- Outdated skills
- Irrelevant skills
- Exaggerated skills
- Outdated Skills
These are abilities that were at one point rare enough that people included them in their resumes but that have since either become ubiquitous, obsolete, or no longer considered to be marketable skills. Here are some common examples of these.
Telephone / Answering phones – Being able to successfully answer a phone or make a call no longer qualifies as an ability.
Typing / Data entry – In the digital age, it is assumed that you can enter information into a computer system using a keyboard. If you can type fast enough to accurately transcribe an auctioneer in real-time, that might qualify as a distinct typing skill, otherwise leave it out.
Faxing / Emailing – Nobody should be using faxes anymore, but some industries still do. (Hello, healthcare.) Still, the skills involved take about two minutes to master and don't belong on your resume. While not outdated, communicating by email is so ubiquitous that it is reasonably assumed that candidates will be able to do it.
Also, watch out for technical abilities or software that have become outdated. Even if you took the time to master Lotus Notes and WordPerfect back in the day, including them on your resume now won't win you any points with employers who do not use these programs and can make you appear to be out of touch.
Irrelevant skills
This is actually the biggest pitfall when it comes to selecting which skills to highlight in a resume. You may have mastered many impressive abilities, and naturally, you want to showcase this versatility when trying to impress potential employers.
However, what employers really want to see is not a multi-skilled maven but a candidate who is a great fit for the position that they are trying to fill. So, if you are looking to be hired in the Accounting department, your Photoshop skills and woodworking abilities will only distract from your math background and financial certifications. They add extra words to your resume without helping it to sell your candidacy.
The worst of these irrelevant skills show a clear progression towards a different career path altogether. So, not only are these abilities unlikely to be useful on the job, but they may also give the impression that you are an irrelevant candidate for the role.
For example, I once received an application from a visual artist for a graphic design role. That could be a natural tie-in, but his resume listed the mediums he worked in (oil on canvas, acrylic on wood), galleries that had shown his work, and details of an upcoming solo exhibit. What his resume didn't accomplish was give any impression that this candidate would actually be interested in a desk job as a graphic designer.
Skills you have not yet mastered
These are the most important skills not to put on a resume. If you have a basic knowledge of something, you might be tempted to put it on your resume. However, be careful not to set unrealistic expectations.
For example, if you tell employers that you are fluently bilingual, you might be asked to communicate with clients or partners in more than one language. This can create an awkward situation if by 'fluent' you really meant high-school level. If the skill you exaggerated is crucial to the role, not having it can quickly lead to your termination.
The same thing goes for technical skills such as software and programming languages or soft skills like public speaking and presentations. You want to give yourself every advantage on your resume to get hired. However, being hired for a job that you can't actually do only leads to career disaster.
